Studs and duds

studs:
The whole defense- much better effort and team defense (except for the garbage time TD)
Rodgers
Harris
Woodson
Raji
Matthews
Walden
Shields

duds:
Joe Webb- felt sorry for the kid, but he stunk
Queens special teams- 12 men on the field for the field goal attempt, what a bonehead mistake
MM's play calling in the second half was too conservative IMO. We could have buried them and had a lot more momentum going into next weeks game.

Eric Walden - beast mode
Matthews
BJ Raji has been on fire and has really stepped up his play, last night was another stellar performance.
Dujuan Harris - Seems like every play he gets the ball he provides a positive contribution
Charles Woodson - Helped add some energy and swagger to the defense
Mike McCarthy - Forgoing Crosby's 50+ FG THANK YOU! Ross on kickoffs - cool.

Duds:

Whoever blew that last assignment which gave up that last TD. Kind of funny how wide open the receiver was and watching Hawk running 15 yards behind . Good thing we had a big lead at that point.

Finley Another drop. Sure you had a couple catches but the TD drop supersedes those contributions.

Mike McCarthy -- What is with the shotgun formation on 3rd Down and barely a yard on first possession? 3-12 on 3rd Down conversions for the game??? Why didn't you want to go up by 28 points? A 4 score lead in 4th quarter and Rodgers could have been rested!! Rodgers took some big hits in the 4th quarter. It seemed like MM used a hat to call plays after score was 24-3.

Rodgers -- starting to hold on the ball too long. Rodgers did have flashes of greatness too.

One thing that bothers me is that McCarthy relies to much on Aaron Rodgers in the pocket. Aaron Rodgers throws the ball on the run better than any QB in the NFL. Why doesn't McCarthy explore that route more thoroughly? Maybe because of our weak tackles? Also, I rarely if ever have seen Dujuan Harris be asked to pass protect on play action passes. In that case some of the staple plays of McCarthy's offense are compromised because the back is a liability of a key component of the play being ran.

Studs:
Defense as a whole. They were so much more disciplined in holding the edge and maintaining gap control. AP had nowhere to run all game. The longest run was the play where he slipped in the backfield, which actually worked to his advantage by drawing Walden in, whom he promptly got around.
2-minute drill
DuJuan Harris (minus that 1st drop). Packers really took advantage of the Vikings play Tampa-2 with the underneath throws to Harris. Finally, we've found an answer to that defense!
Offensive Line - Rodgers had plenty of time back there on most of his throws. I may be wrong, but I think all the sacks were pretty much the result of Rodgers holding it too long.

Duds:
MM - For a couple reasons. First, that damn John Kuhn 1-yard plunge play-call at the goal line. That play worked 2 years ago. Now it's predictable and unproductive. I hate that play call so much!! Second, I was disappointed the Packers didn't put the nail in the coffin in the second half. It was pretty obvious to all involved the game was over after the Packers doubled-up. Still, you can't let teams, especially in the playoffs, hang around like that. Put it this way, if it was NE, BB and Brady would have put up 40 points, unrelenting in continuing to play aggressive offensive football. I would have liked to see that go-for-blood mentality.

Ok I know I will get some heat for this but:
Studs-Packers D stopped I mean STOPPED A-Petterson from having a big game and keeping him under 100 yds.
DUDS- the 2nd 1/2 packers offense, just flat out NADDA, U can't go into SF playing a 60 min team, with a 30 min o
offense
DUDS- the running game did not cause me goose bumps, still needs work..
DUDS-MM play calling I think A-rod should call his own plays sometimes..
DUDS-Randall Cobbs punt returns,(I am a hugh R C fan, but Ross seems to have a bigger burst)
DUDS- Punting totally sucked Mastay did not pin the Queens deep in their zone....
DUDS-I could be a dud 4 these duds, but just spoke my mind.............

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Rodgers DOES have SOME freedom at the LOS ya know... More than any other MM QB has supposedly
True, Randall pissed me off dancing around going BACKWARDS.
I'll give Masthay a pass for punting from the endzone or close to it.
Studs:
Crosby kicking it out of the endzone instead of letting Sherels run it out to the 30 yard line
DEZMAN!!!
Duds:
ST cover unit for always letting Sherels run it out of the endzone to the 30 yard line all night long.

Where was Green last night? The run game in the 2nd half was completely unspectacular and he didn't see the field, even though he was active.

Eric Walden - beast mode
Matthews
BJ Raji has been on fire and has really stepped up his play, last night was another stellar performance.
Dujuan Harris - Seems like every play he gets the ball he provides a positive contribution
Charles Woodson - Helped add some energy and swagger to the defense
Mike McCarthy - Forgoing Crosby's 50+ FG THANK YOU! Ross on kickoffs - cool.

Duds:

Whoever blew that last assignment which gave up that last TD. Kind of funny how wide open the receiver was and watching Hawk running 15 yards behind . Good thing we had a big lead at that point.

Finley Another drop. Sure you had a couple catches but the TD drop supersedes those contributions.

Mike McCarthy -- What is with the shotgun formation on 3rd Down and barely a yard on first possession? 3-12 on 3rd Down conversions for the game??? Why didn't you want to go up by 28 points? A 4 score lead in 4th quarter and Rodgers could have been rested!! Rodgers took some big hits in the 4th quarter. It seemed like MM used a hat to call plays after score was 24-3.

Rodgers -- starting to hold on the ball too long. Rodgers did have flashes of greatness too.

One thing that bothers me is that McCarthy relies to much on Aaron Rodgers in the pocket. Aaron Rodgers throws the ball on the run better than any QB in the NFL. Why doesn't McCarthy explore that route more thoroughly? Maybe because of our weak tackles? Also, I rarely if ever have seen Dujuan Harris be asked to pass protect on play action passes. In that case some of the staple plays of McCarthy's offense are compromised because the back is a liability of a key component of the play being ran.

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Woodson

Fin was double covered and diving, but it was still a catchable ball, that was the classic "Defense got physical on me" Fin drop.

MM - For a couple reasons. First, that damn John Kuhn 1-yard plunge play-call at the goal line. That play worked 2 years ago. Now it's predictable and unproductive. I hate that play call so much!!

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Agree 100%. They bring in the short yardage personel and everyone knows Kuhn is getting the ball. Why not spread it out with four wide and Kuhn or Grant. That way the defense if forced to be honest and not stack the line of scrimmage.

Agree 100%. They bring in the short yardage personel and everyone knows Kuhn is getting the ball. Why not spread it out with four wide and Kuhn or Grant. That way the defense if forced to be honest and not stack the line of scrimmage.

B.J. Raji and Ryan Pickett - both of these guys just whooped Fusco and Charlie Johnson. My favorite play was when Raji just ran Fusco about 3 yards into the backfield and forced Webb to step up into a sack.

Rodgers - when isn't he a stud?

Matthews - beat a good LT in Kalil around the edge a few times and did his job in run support.

DuJuan Harris - ran hard and caught the ball well. I didn't think he could catch that well.

Woodson - his good tackling was huge for us. What a play when he cuts through two WRs and stops AP at the LOS.

Duds -

EDS - PFF said he was very poor in run blocking and I couldn't tell you when the centers and guards are having good or bad days so I'll go with them.

Some of McCarthy's 2nd half playcalling - it felt like he passed too much especially in the 4th quarter, exposing Rodgers to hits.

Only dud IMO, was MM for the 2nd half conservative play calling BS. Keep the pedal down and your foot on their throats. When you have Arod passing you score points, when you run run run punt, you don't.

Only dud IMO, was MM for the 2nd half conservative play calling BS. Keep the pedal down and your foot on their throats. When you have Arod passing you score points, when you run run run punt, you don't.

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Quick question, how do you know he took the foot off the gas? Because we didn't score? Maybe the Vikes defense stepped up? I saw that our run game took a step back in the third, maybe we were trying to get it back going again? Maybe we wanted to do something we saw in the first half, but they adjusted to it in the second? Maybe Rodgers made an adjustment, called a hot route, and it just didn't work. Did MM say that he was purposely trying to let up? I missed the press conference last night.

Quick question, how do you know he took the foot off the gas? Because we didn't score? Maybe the Vikes defense stepped up? I saw that our run game took a step back in the third, maybe we were trying to get it back going again? Maybe we wanted to do something we saw in the first half, but they adjusted to it in the second? Maybe Rodgers made an adjustment, called a hot route, and it just didn't work. Did MM say that he was purposely trying to let up? I missed the press conference last night.

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Have you been on a combat deployment all season? It's the same ol' sh!t......get a modest lead, foot off the gas, run run run punt.....then go to a prevent defense with a 3 man rush and still let passes get completed. We are lucky they had that bone head Webb in there.....not like Ponder is much better, but he can toss the ball much better than webb can. Im not saying deep bombs with the lead all day, but a slant route and simple out routes call help kill a clock also, while moving the ball at least into FG range for added security.

Have you been on a combat deployment all season? It's the same ol' sh!t......get a modest lead, foot off the gas, run run run punt.....then go to a prevent defense with a 3 man rush and still let passes get completed. We are lucky they had that bone head Webb in there.....not like Ponder is much better, but he can toss the ball much better than webb can. Im not saying deep bombs with the lead all day, but a slant route and simple out routes call help kill a clock also, while moving the ball at least into FG range for added security.

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I'm sorry, you are obviously reading MM's mind, and there is obviously no reason behind his decisions. He couldn't have been trying to accomplish something, and I am giving the opposition entirely too much credit by saying they stopped us. It was also insulting to say that we could be stopped by any adjustments that anybody made, or to imply that MM could possibly be struggling to make/overcome adjustments in the third quarter. Because those things never happen.

You should really talk to MM about all that 3 man rush he calls on defense. I remember back when we were so excited about it in TC, and then were disappointed we didn't see it for a while. Then we saw it in action when it wasn't a hail mary situation, and were like "this was a dumb idea." I understand the concept is to double every receiver, but it breaks down too fast. It would be a good call if we could execute it, but a good DC should know not to call something the team routinely fails to execute.

BTW, deep bombs all day is pretty much all we do when we pass, it's been pointed out that AR ignores the open short route. BTW out routes are likely to end up out of bounds, stopping the clock. Wouldn't mind seeing us actually throw to the open short middle.

Whether or not he actually pulled off the gas, we don't know, though I'll give you it looked like it. Why not pull off the gas? Why give the 49ers even more info on us? Why waste plays on a Vikings team we own that obviously is not scoring unless we put Hawk in man on a deep route from a WR? No, I want coaches watching Vanilla the entire half unless we have to switch out. Because 21 points is a "modest lead." Be glad I'm not making the calls, because in that case after we make a stop while up by 14 the game gets boring.

I seriously doubt that keeping the pass game going and moving the ball with short, high % passes would give the 49ers "more info" on us. It's not like we were pulling trick plays and odd formations out........

BTW.....the reason I say a quick slant or an "out route" will work is: we have the personel in our arsenal to make the slant play work all day, but during the slow methodical clock draining, the center of the field id usually more covered because the defense knows that is the place to go to and get tackled without the clock stopping. I say go to the short outside out is that they wont (most likely) be expecting that and then you tell your WR to stay inbounds. You can milk the clock with a pass game, check downs and screen passes are clock killers indeed. Plus, the positive side is, we move the ball down field and score and make the margin even larger to make up. My theory is, the more points, the better....because in this crazy high paced NFL, you never know what can happen. We have seen teams score 21 pts in under 2 min (not on us, but it has happened)....not to mention the comeback the colts mounted on us.

^?????? slants take absolutely zero time to develope. Arod throws the ball as soon as it hits his hands. They showed a replay on NFL network that showed the quickness of the arod slant: he most of the time wont even get his fingers lined up on the laces of the ball and he has done it without even looking...lol...how crazy is that??